Manufacture of glass reflectors



(No Model.)

No. 236,390. Patente W. J. WILKINSON. Manufacture of Glass Reflectors.

d Jan. 4,1881.

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H-PEFERS PgioTo-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON D C UNITED STATES ATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM J. WILKINSON, ()F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MANUFACTURE OF GLASS REFLECTORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 236,390, dated January 4, 1881.

Application filed October 13, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLtAn J. WILKINSON, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in the Manufacture of Glass Reflectors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the manufacture of that class of reflectors which consist of a double shell of glass silvered on the inside, the object of my improvement being to simplify and cheapen the process of manufacture.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view of the reflector; Figs. 2, 3, and 4, views illustrating the method of making said reflector, and Fig. 5 a view of a modified form of reflector.

The reflector shown in Fig. 1 consists of a double shell, a b, of glass, the shells being united at the lower edges and inclosing a space, d, into which a silvering-solution is introduced in order to impart the proper reflecting backing to the shell a. A central tubular projection, e, is formed on both of the shells to and b, the projection 6 of the inner shell, to, being slightly less in diameter than but concentric with the projection of the outer shell. By this means a central opening, f, is formed, said opening extending through both shells of the reflector, so that the latter can be placed above a lamp or gas-burner in the same mannet as an ordinary reflector or shade, the products of combustion passing through the opening f without injuriously affecting the reflector. The openingf also permits the use of the reflector in connection with street-ear or omnibus lamps, &c., where it is necessary that the light should not be entirely out ofi from that side of the lamp on which the reflector is placed. Reflectors thus constructed can be rapidly and economically manufactured in the manner shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4.

In Fig. 2, A represents the lower half, and B the upper half, of a mold, the upper half, B, being made in separable sections. Both the upper and lower halves of the mold are recessed, the recess in the upper half being of the necessary shape to form the outer shell, b, of the reflector and its projection a, while the (No model.)

recess in thelower half of the mold is adapted to properly shape the inner shell, a, and has a central stud, m, to form the tubular projection of said inner shell. When the glass is blown in this mold in the usual manner a hollow vessel of the shape shown in Fig. 2is produced, and in order to reduce this vessel to the desired reflector I subject the shell a, or that portion of it at and near its junction with the shell b and projection e, to heat, which softens the glass to a certain extent. The shell b and its projection e are then adapted to an opening of corresponding shape in a die, D, the shell a projecting beyond the face of the die, as shown in Fig. 3. A plunger, E, having the same shape as that desired for the inner surface of the reflector, and having a stud, a, adapted to the projection e of the shell a, is then permitted to move toward the die D, the effect of this movement being to thrust the shell to and its projection 6 into the recess formed by the shell b and its projection e, the plunger being so proportioned in respect to. the shell b that the desired space (1 will intervene between the shells a and b and their projections e at the completion of the operation, as shown in Fig. 4. The plunger E being removed, the reflector is at liberty to be broken from the blow-pipe a: prior to having the edges of its projections e properly trimmed and receiving its internal coating of silver.

The production of the reflector by the use of a mold and a die and plunger enables me to manufacture said reflector much more economically and with greater accuracy than by any of the ordinary processes of manipulation, and it also permits the formation of reflectors of various shapes, the conical form being shown in the drawings simply as the most convenient way of illustrating my invention.

The reflector may be made without the projections e, if desired, as shown in Fig. 5; but the formation of the projections on the shells is, in most cases, to be preferred.

I claim as my invention- 1. The mode herein described of making glass reflectors, said mode consisting in blowing in a mold a glass vessel, one part of which forms the outer shell of the reflector and the other part of which is adapted to form the inner shell of the same, then softening said inthe recess of the die, and adapted to act upon 10 net shell or part thereof and pressing it into the shell to of the reflector, as set forth.

the recess formed by the outer shell, as speci- In testimony whereofI have signed my name fierl. to this specification in the presence of two sub- 2. The combination of the die D, indepenilscribing Witnesses.

ent of the mold, and having a recess adapted W lLLIAM J. WILKINSON.

for the reception and support of the shell I) of WVitnesses:

the reflector, with a plunger, E, conforming JAMES F. TOBIN,

in shape to but slightly less in diameter than HARRY SMITH. 

